Bessemer Group Inc. Buys New Position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)

Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ares Management LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 226,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,553,000 after purchasing an additional 28,300 shares during the last quarter. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC now owns 275,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,542,000 after purchasing an additional 67,215 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 2.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Hercules Capital in the fourth quarter worth $14,871,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Hercules Capital by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 325,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,548,000 after purchasing an additional 28,812 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.69% of the company’s stock.

Hercules Capital Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of HTGC opened at $18.61 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.85 and a 200 day moving average of $18.95. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $22.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38.

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 45.23%. The firm had revenue of $102.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $125.43 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hercules Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Hercules Capital’s payout ratio is presently 120.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on HTGC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.50 to $20.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Hercules Capital from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Hercules Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Nikos Theodosopoulos bought 5,999 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $104,922.51. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,180.40. This represents a 100.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

Hercules Capital, Inc is a business development company. The firm specializing in providing venture debt, debt, senior secured loans, and growth capital to privately held venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development from startups to expansion stage including select publicly listed companies and select special opportunity lower middle market companies that require additional capital to fund acquisitions, recapitalizations and refinancing and established-stage companies.